


Not That Bad

by SassySnowperson (DramaticEntrance)



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-27 02:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10799460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticEntrance/pseuds/SassySnowperson
Summary: Bodhi Rook hasn't seen Cassian Andor since high school. Cassian looks a little...worse for the wear. What happened?A quick prompt fill on tumblr:“so i know we just reunited but mind explaining how your whole life went to hell?” au"





	1. Not That Bad

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ikkanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikkanna/gifts).



> This was written for [jolinarofmalkshur](http://jolinarofmalkshur.tumblr.com) over on tumblr in response to the following prompt: “so i know we just reunited but mind explaining how your whole life went to hell?” with Bodhi/Cassian.
> 
> Prompt comes from [this lovely list of prompts.](http://cometlesbian.tumblr.com/post/129828512806/reunited-aus)

* * *

“It’s not that bad,” the alarmingly tall man said to his short friend. 

“Not that - Kay, I have six dollars in my savings account, I don’t have a job, I don’t have a house, and the woman who I thought I might marry someday broke up with me! It’s _pretty damn bad_ , Kay!” his short friend said, angry and loud enough that he could be heard clearly across the bar. 

This was convenient, as Bodhi was eavesdropping (the right and duty of bartenders everywhere) and it was nice not to have to work too hard at it. 

“You are determined to be morose,” the tall friend said. “I am going to leave.” 

The short friend sighed. “Well, I guess I’m going with you because I don’t have a car, either.” 

“No, here is my card, I have enough money to cover a night of drunken forgetfulness. I will tell the bartender to make sure to call you a cab when you are done.” 

“You’re leaving me to drown my sorrows alone?” 

“You are being both illogical and exhausting. I am not the correct friend to deal with you now.”

The shorter man thunked his head down on the bar and groaned, “I don’t actually have any other friends. Add that to the list.” 

The tall friend rolled his eyes elaborately, stood up and walked toward Bodhi, who focused back down on the glass he was polishing and tried to make it look like he hadn’t been lurking in on the conversation. 

“He’s on my tab, here is twenty dollars for you, please make certain he gets in a cab to this address at the end of the night.” Kay said to Bodhi, passing over a slip of paper with an address scribbled on it. 

Bodhi gave a nod up to the man, pocketing the twenty. “Sure thing. Can’t guarantee what happens after he gets in the cab, though.” 

Kay looked over at his friend, “He’s not self-destructive. Just overly dramatic and likely to get very drunk.” 

“Par for the course, around here.” Bodhi grinned. “I’ll keep an eye on him.” 

“Thank you.” Kay said, and left. 

Bodhi worried at his lip for a moment, before pulling another glass of what the apparently overly dramatic man had been drinking and wandering down the bar to set it in front of him. 

The man didn’t raise his head off the bar. “I didn’t order anything.”

“It’s on the house,” Bodhi said, amused. 

The man looked up at Bodhi, face suspicious. 

Bodhi blinked. “Cassian Andor?” 

Cassian stared at Bodhi for a long moment. “Rook? I haven’t seen you since...”

“Tenth grade?” Bodhi guessed. 

“Sounds right.” Cassian nodded. “You’re a bartender now?”

“Yeah. I-” Bodhi cut himself off, holding up a hand. “I know how this conversation is supposed to go. We reminisce about being the only two scholarship boys in a private school, exchange pleasantries, wonder what our bullies are up to these days...but I’m going to fast forward through all of that because I need to know what happened. How exactly did your whole life go to hell?” 

Cassian grimaced. “You heard that.” 

“You were yelling it across my bar. It was hard to miss.” Bodhi nodded. He leaned up against the bar, looking over at Cassian. “Come on, last time I saw you were scholarship track and heading for great things. Fill in the gaps for me.” 

Cassian shook his head. Bodhi nudged the glass a little closer to him. “There’s free beer in it for you.” 

“Pretty sure the owner won’t like you giving away free drinks to pry a sob story out of someone,” Cassian said, narrowing his eyes while he stared at the beer with something resembling longing.

“The owner is very bored, and if the only interesting customer in here doesn’t start talking the owner is going to have to go back to guessing how long before blondie over there grabs gym bro and starts making out with him.” 

Cassian looked over at the couple. “Fifteen minutes. Wait. This is _your bar_ your bar?” 

“I’m thinking twenty. And yeah, inherited it a little while back.” Bodhi looked over at Cassian. “You’re going to stick around to find out if you’re right anyway. Might as well share your sorrows with the bartender while you’re at it. Time honored tradition.” 

Cassian sighed. “Fine. Okay...I got that scholarship, majored in organic chemistry, fresh out of college was pulling in 150k at a biotech company. Alliance Solutions.” 

“Your eventual downfall is the only thing keeping me from hating you right now,” Bodhi said, cutting the jab with a smile. He picked up a glass and started polishing it. The glasses didn’t need to be polished, but he found it put people at ease. 

Cassian snorted. “It’s a good job, but Draven, my boss, he kept cutting corners. There was some ethically grey research going on there. And...shit. I was fine with it. Mostly. Thought we were doing some good. Our medical implants were saving lives.” 

Bodhi nodded. 

“Anyway, that was when I met J-Jane. Jane Smith.” Cassian finally pulled the beer in front of him and took a sip.

Bodhi’s eyebrows shot up. “Jane Smith.” 

“I - leave it alone. I can’t actually talk about it without my lawyer present.” 

Bodhi blinked, “Shit, Andor. Alright, going back to your completely legitimate friend Jane Smith.” 

“Anyway. Jane’s mom died because of some drug rushed through production by another company, Imperial Pharmaceuticals. It happened a long time ago, her dad tried to sue but the case didn’t get anywhere.” 

Bodhi opened his mouth, closed it again, and reached for another glass. 

“But sometime in the last couple years Jane’s dad actually found some leaked information on clinical trials from Imperial Pharmaceuticals. And he was going forward with his case. But then he died.” Cassian sighed. “And here’s where things get complicated for me. Jane found me and asked me to help going over the medical documentation. And I thought, hey, I can do that. Help make her life a little easier.”

“Seems like a solid plan,” Bodhi said. “I assume she was the girl you thought you might marry.”

Cassian took another drink. “She...no. I mean, she’s the girl I was talking about, but,” Cassian coughed uncomfortably, “I felt like saying, ‘the girl I hooked up with a couple times before I realized it wasn’t going to work out long-term’ didn’t pack the right punch.” 

Bodhi laughed. “That’s fair. Anyway. Continue.” 

Cassian tapped the bar. “So, I was working with her. While we were going over stuff, I realized her dad was using Alliance Solutions technology. Technology that I may or may not have worked on, that maybe hypothetically had been rushed through by Draven and hypothetically not tested properly.”

“Hypothetically. Lawyer sort of hypothetically,” Bodhi said.

Cassian tipped his beer at him. 

“Anyway I told Jane about it and I honestly thought was going to kill me. She told me I murdered her dad. I still - fuck - I’m still conflicted. Alliance Solutions did a lot of good. The tech we were working on could have saved my mom. But it’s still a business. Still looking for easy money. We probably should have taken the time with the trials.”

Cassian fell silent and stared into his beer. The bar was quiet, only the quiet murmur of a couple other patrons filling the air. 

The silence was broken when the bar’s doors suddenly flew open. What looked like a dozen or two drunk twenty and thirty-something women streamed through the door. One of them wore a tiara and a sash that said “Bachelorette.” Party on a pub crawl. 

Bodhi had a moment of panic. He was staffed alone tonight. _‘Who has their bachelorette party on a Tuesday?’_

There was a lot of giggling and screaming. Cassian looked up. He seemed deeply uncomfortable, and made an attempt to stand up.

Bodhi shot a hand out and grabbed the front of Cassian’s shirt. Cassian looked down at Bodhi’s hand, bemused, then back up to Bodhi, who felt his cheeks go a little red. He didn’t want to lose Cassian in the middle of his story. He also didn’t want to run a whole party’s drinks at once. Mentally, the clouds parted, the sun shined, and Bodhi was struck with inspiration. 

“I’ll give you fifty dollars if you help me get through this party,” Bodhi said. 

“What?” Cassian asked.

“Get back behind the bar, work like the devil for half an hour, I’ll pay you fifty dollars.” 

“That has to violate some health and safety codes-” 

“You’re working under my license, and I won’t have you handle the actual alcohol. You can do prep, fetch and carry. I need a barback. Please.” 

Cassian nodded, slowly. Bodhi lifted the bar counter and ushered him through, before turning and smiling at the group. “Ladies! What are we having tonight?” 

The following half an hour was filled with rushing around, pointing at various bottles, pouring drinks and working the tables. Cassian was a quick and efficient barback and even made some lovely orange zest curls. In between the rushing, Bodhi managed to wring some more of the story out of him. 

Cassian thought Jyn was probably right and agreed to help her. 

In the process of helping her, Alliance Solutions found out and Cassian lost his job. 

Finally the party, still “WHOOO”ing enthusiastically, left for the next bar. Bodhi grinned at Cassian, feeling flushed and a bit energetic. “Alright, I think that wraps it up. You can go back to your beer.” 

Cassian was smiling back at Bodhi. He made like he was going to go back to his seat, but he stopped at the pile of dirty dishes. “Let me help you get through these, at least.” 

Bodhi shrugged. “Sure. What happened after you lost your job?” 

“The company had a nice severance package. Unfortunately that included a nondisclosure rider. Even more unfortunately, I met Chirrut Fuckin’ Îmwe. Of Îmwe and Malbus, aka the tort lawyers taking on both Alliance Solutions and Imperial Pharmaceuticals. Chirrut convinced me to testify, which means I couldn’t take the severance package, which means I lost my apartment.”

“And your car.” Bodhi filled in. 

Cassian paused. “Actually, I never had a car.” 

“Never actually thought you were going to marry the girl, never had a car, Kay really was telling the truth when he said you were being overly dramatic.” 

Cassian snorted. “Probably.”

“Absolutely. To recap; your sob story is that you are providing key evidence in a trial that might take down not one, but two corrupt biomedical firms and even though your crush didn’t work out you got a friend out the deal?” Bodhi said. 

“That...yes. I really am homeless and only have six dollars in my savings account, though.”

“Do you have a place to crash?” Bodhi asked. 

“Oh, yeah, Kay has a guest-room. He worked for Alliance too, got fired too. He just was smarter about saving, apparently. Says he’s pulling in a fair bit of money working the stock market. He’s always been good with numbers. Still - I hate living on charity.” 

“You’ve got friends that take care of you. Just have to accept help sometimes.” 

Cassian shrugged. “Doesn’t make it easy.” 

Bodhi grunted. “Yeah. Well. Look, I can’t offer even remotely close to 150k a year, but if you can settle for fifteen an hour I’ll get you on-shift here. Train you as a bartender, if you want, or you can stay on prep. Tips are pretty good, most nights.”

Cassian shook his head. “I just said I don’t want charity.” 

“Well, tough. Because I desperately need a competent barback. It’s not charity, Andor. You won me over with the strength of your orange curls.” 

Cassian stared at Bodhi for a second, before he started chuckling. “Okay, okay. And thanks for listening, too. I don’t normally do this. Just needed to vent. Lucky I ran into you.” 

“Yeah.” Bodhi said, forehead wrinkling, “You’re not a regular here. Who told you about this place?” 

“Jane.” Cassian admitted. “She comes here a lot. Please don’t try to figure out who she is. And on the off chance you do, please never tell her what I said about the marrying.” 

“Secret’s safe with me. But, actually, Cassian, I should tell you-” 

The doors burst open again. Instead of a whole herd of tipsy women there was only one short brunette. She looked furious. “Why did Kay call me at eleven o’clock at night saying that you were ‘likely to drink yourself into oblivion without proper emotional guidance?’” 

Cassian sighed. “God, Jyn, I’m sorry, I didn’t ask him to do that.” 

Bodhi murmured to Cassian, “Look, I’m not trying to figure this out, but-”

“Yeah. Just...don’t say anything,” Cassian muttered back.

Jyn stopped her angry stalk when she saw Cassian. “Why are you behind the bar?” She turned to Bodhi. “Why is he behind the bar?”

“I hired him.” Bodhi said, raising the countertop so she could pass through. “A gaggle of bachelorettes came through and I needed backup.” He set the countertop back down, and Jyn pivoted and gave him a peck on the cheek. 

Bodhi looked over at Cassian to see him looking perplexed. 

“You two know each other?” Cassian ventured.

“Yeah. Cassian, this is the guy that got Dad the information on Imperial Pharmaceuticals. Dad pretty much adopted him afterward. Gave him the bar when he died.” 

Cassian’s face furrowed and hardened.

There was a long uncomfortable silence. 

“You knew?” Cassian finally said, taking an angry step forward. “Did you know the whole time? Were you just laughing at me as I talked?” 

Bodhi winced and carefully moved to keep Jyn between him and Cassian. “No. I swear, I didn’t put the pieces together until you described ‘Jane’s’ parents. And by then you were really far into your story. It seemed...rude?” 

Cassian just continued to glare at Bodhi. Bodhi shrank further behind Jyn. 

Jyn looked back and forth between the two of them. “I am five foot two, are you seriously trying to use me as a human shield?” 

“Yes,” Bodhi said, without shame. 

Jyn tipped her head to the side. “And he actually told you what was going on without knowing who you were?” 

“He was very circumspect,” Bodhi quickly defended Cassian. “We knew each other back in the day, I was just trying to figure out why he was so down.” 

Jyn snorted. “You’re a disaster. But no, I mean ‘Cassian I-Don’t-Believe-in-Having-an-Emotion Andor’ voluntarily discussed his feelings?” 

“I have emotions!” Cassian protested. 

“That is the saddest sentence I have ever heard,” said Bodhi. 

“You are both disasters,” Jyn said. She wandered over to the bar and poured herself a finger of whisky and hopped up, sitting on the inside of the bar. “That’s why I told him to come here. Figured my people should know each other.”

Bodhi started to say, “You know, Jyn, most people would just start a group text-”

At the same time Cassian said, “That is what introducing people in-person is for-” 

They stopped and looked at each other. Jyn smiled. “Yeah, you two are going to get along fine. Okay, nobody is dying, I got my whisky, I’m going home, you two enjoy talking or arguing or whatever it is you get up to.”

Jyn swung her legs over the bar and hopped off the other side, chugging down the whisky and leaving the glass as she left. 

Bodhi stared at the closed doors for a long second before taking a deep breath and turning back to Cassian. 

Cassian was looking at him with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. “You really didn’t know?” 

“Really didn’t.” Bodhi admitted. Bodhi poured himself a glass of beer and set it on the bar. He lifted up the flap and walked around to the customer side. Cassian made to follow him, but Bodhi held up a hand, pointing behind the bar. “Nope. Your turn. You’re going to work here, you need to get the hang of the ‘listen and polish’.” 

Cassian looked amused despite himself, and picked up a clean glass and a towel, leaning against the bar. “Like this?” 

Bodhi nodded. “Good. I find circular motions are the most soothing. Okay.” Bodhi took a deep breath. “I did not get any fancy scholarship. Mom died, and I didn’t bother going to college, but I did manage to pick up decent work as a courier for Imperial Pharmaceuticals. I was making no where close to 150k a year.” Bodhi glared a little at Cassian as he said that. 

Cassian chuckled, polishing the glass with circular motions. 

“Alright, move on to the next one.” Bodhi gestured. “Too long on one glass and they get suspicious.”

Cassian flicked the towel at Bodhi. “Stop with the commentary and share.” 

Bodhi put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay.” He took another drink, pausing. “I met Galen, Jyn’s dad, first. I don’t know if you got to meet him, but he was incredible. Kind. Driven. And he made me ask questions about what it was I was transporting for the first time. One day I found out that I was transporting files full of original clinical trial data that had been scheduled for destruction. And by complete coincidence, I lost the data that day. Weird.”

Cassian set the glass down. “That’s...criminal.”

“If you can prove it,” Bodhi said. “Imperial tried to sue me, but couldn’t prove malfeasance. I was hit with a small fine for violating patient confidentiality. And the data got into the hands of the lawyers.”

Bodhi took a drink. “The next part of the story will sound very familiar. Lost my job, no money, no place to stay. Galen took me in, gave me a job in the bar. Wasn’t expecting him to actually give me the bar when he died. I tried to give it back to Jyn, but she didn’t want it. So, there you have it.” Bodhi tipped his glass at Cassian. 

Cassian shook his head. “What are the odds that it would be you and me, after all these years?” 

“I’m glad.” Bodhi paused. “That it was us.”

The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a moment. Eventually Bodhi cleared his throat and held up his mug. “Rogue employees, taking down the corrupt biomedical industry!”

Cassian chuckled. He set down the glass he was polishing and retrieved his own beer. He held it up in a salute, “To rebellion.”

Bodhi grinned, and clinked their mugs together, “To new beginnings.” 

“I’ll drink to that.” Cassian said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! So, given the prompt I originally tried to make this more, “shippy” but these characters desperately needed a friend more than flirtation right now. I do see this as pre-slash, but it’s basically the start of a slow-burn. And as this is supposed to be my nice break from my longer fic, I’m not writing that. 
> 
> But! Chapter two is my quick outline for how it goes, if you are interested in that sort of thing.
> 
> And, as always, feel free to [say hi on Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sassysnowperson)


	2. Rough Outline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have no plans at the moment to continue the series, but I did want to give people some resolution as to how Cassian and Bodhi got together in this universe. So, for your reading pleasure, here is the very rough hypothetical continuation of the fic, if you want to get a glimpse of what my first pass at an outline looks like.

Bodhi and Cassian keep working in the bar together. They’re a good team. As Cassian gets more comfortable, he starts flirting without really thinking about it. Lingering glances, brushed hands, that sort of thing.

* * *

Bodhi notices, but is far too flustered to say anything. Also is really freaked out because he’s technically Cassian’s boss and their relationship is already pretty fuzzy, would it be sexual harassment? Bodhi googles sexual harassment laws in the incognito tab of his computer late at night. 

The trial comes up, and Cassian and Jyn both become nervous wrecks. Bodhi, who is not testifying at all, tries to keep them both sane. He mostly succeeds, aside from that one time with the alcohol poisoning.

(The one time with the alcohol poisoning was the most terrifying night of his life, as he rushed Cassian to the ER, vomiting. Bodhi came to terms with some more-than-attraction sort of feelings, there.)

Bodhi agrees to go to the trial to support them. Krennic, the sleazy VP of Research is there and freaks Bodhi out when he corners Bodhi alone and starts threatening him. Cassian finds them, and just baaaarely manages to not punch Krennic. This is when Cassian comes to terms with some more-than-attraction feelings. 

But, they are in the middle of a trial and are Very Busy. So now is not the time. But then it’s all over but for the waiting and they wind up in each other’s orbits, keep throwing nervous glances at each other.

(Jyn is there with them, and is so done with their doe-eyed longing. But, it gives her something to focus on that is not the fact that whether or not she receives justice for her parent’s deaths is going to be determined soon.)

The verdict comes back, Alliance and Imperial are both on the hook for massive amounts of money, Jyn is now wealthy beyond her wildest dreams and is full of emotions she doesn’t know how to handle, so she channels it into work and goes off to call her accountant.

This leaves Bodhi and Cassian staring at each other in relief and amazement. 

And they kiss in the middle of the courthouse, people coming and going all around them. They don’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I always love it when people [come say hi on Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sassysnowperson)


End file.
